DA drops fire charges against justice's wife

BRIAN ROGERS, HOUSTON CHRONICLE |
August 28, 2009

Related Stories

The Harris County District Attorney's office has dismissed all charges against the wife of Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina in connection with a 2007 fire that burned down the couple's Spring home and damaged two others.

Francisca Medina was charged with felony arson for the destruction of the couple's home, felony criminal mischief of more than $200,000 for damage to a neighbor's home, and criminal mischief, a state jail felony, for damage done to the house behind the Medina's home.

“We laid all our cards on the table and let the prosecutor interview our two witnesses who say there is no way this is arson,” said Medina's attorney, Dick DeGuerin. “Our guys collected much more evidence than the fire marshal's office did. They collected evidence that is indicative, but not conclusory, of an electrical fire.”

On the dismissal form, filed Thursday, prosecutor Steve Baldassano wrote that after the indictment, experts for both sides concluded they could not rule out the possibility that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction.

David Medina's attorney, Terry Yates, said the couple is happy to see the dismissal.

“He's elated this is over, and he's also somewhat perturbed that it even got this far,” Yates said of David Medina. “He's still a little angry that his family got dragged through this nightmare.”

In a statement Friday, Medina said justice was served and thanked God.

Arson investigators had said the June 28, 2007, fire caused almost $1 million worth of damage to three homes in the Olde Oaks neighborhood in Spring.

Nathan Green, the fire marshal's lead investigator on the case initially described the blaze as “very suspicious” and said officials had ruled out any possibility of an electrical fire and found no evidence to suggest it was accidental.

Green could not be reached for comment Friday, but Capt. Lonnie Blevins said the fire marshal's office now agrees that an electrical fire could not be ruled out.

Critical of fire marshal

DeGuerin and Yates took Green to task.

“(The experts) were very critical of the fire marshal's office for their failure to look at other possibilities and to follow other leads,” DeGuerin said.

“Had (Green) done a proper investigation, she wouldn't have been indicted in the first place,” Yates said.

The case became a political firestorm on Jan. 17, 2008, when a grand jury indicted Francisca Medina on an arson charge and David Medina on a charge of tampering with a document.

Hours after the indictment was handed up, then-Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal dismissed the charges because of “insufficient evidence.”

The prosecutor who handled the case, Vic Wisner, indicted Francisca Medina four months later saying the investigation was complete.

Shortly after Rosenthal moved to dismiss the original indictments, two grand jury members publicly denounced his unwillingness to prosecute, alleging that the district attorney's actions were politically motivated.